Apple up as Carl Icahn lashes out at board

SaumyaVaishampayan

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Shares of Apple Inc. edged up on Wednesday after billionaire Carl Icahn used Twitter to step up his long-running criticism of the company’s board and again push for a bigger share buyback.

Apple
AAPL, -0.32%
shares came off earlier highs to rise 0.6% after Icahn (@Carl_C_Icahn) sent out three tweets in quick succession:

“Since tweeting about our large position in $AAPL on Aug 13, when the stock was 468 per share, we’ve kept buying shares of this ‘no brainer.’”

“Having purchased $500 million more $AAPL shares in the last two weeks, our investment has crossed the $3 billion mark yesterday.”

“We feel $APPL board is doing great disservice to shareholders by not having markedly increased its buyback. In-depth letter to follow soon.”

Icahn has been publicly pressuring Apple to use more of its cash to buy back shares to help bolster its stock price.

Separately, Icahn told CNBC that he likes Twitter because it makes it easy to disseminate information but not enough for him to buy the stock. Shares of Twitter
TWTR, -1.64%
are off 0.3% in recent trade.

Shares of Anadarko Petroleum Corp.
APC, -0.74%
gained 3% to $83.62 on news David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital took a stake in the company. Greenlight said it bought Anadarko shares at $78.55 after its analysis indicated Anadarko’s legal woes won’t be as costly as feared, according to a quarterly letter to investors obtained by ValueWalk. Greenlight didn't disclose how many shares it bought.

Coach

Handbags on display at a Coach store.

Gainers

Norfolk Southern Corp.
NSC, +0.18%
climbed 4.7%. The railroad operator on Wednesday said its fourth-quarter earnings jumped to $1.64 a share versus $1.30 a share a year ago due to strong demand for rail shipment of crude oil and an increase in automobile production, which boosted traffic 8%.

TE Connectivity Ltd.
TEL, +0.69%
shares jumped 6.6%. The electronics component maker said Wednesday its first-quarter earnings increased to 84 cents a share from 65 cents a share a year earlier. It also raised its adjusted earnings-per-share outlook for the year to a range of $3.65 to $3.85. TE Connectivity was spun off from Tyco International Ltd.
US:TYC
in 2007.

Best Buy Co.
BBY, -0.19%
shares advanced 6.6%, making up for steep losses last week in the wake of disappointing holiday sales. “Wall Street maybe sent this stock up too quickly in 2013, as evidence of cost cuts and smarter direction took hold,” Gary Balter, an analyst at Credit Suisse, said in a report. He noted that the retail industry overall was burdened by limited growth, less shopping days as well as more people going online to do their buying. “We expect each year to get incrementally better, assuming BBY stays true to its turnaround efforts and doesn’t let Wall Street force pricing back up,” he said.

Decliners

Shares of Coach Inc.
US:COH
slumped 6.3%. The luxury retailer said its fiscal second-quarter profit fell to $297.44 million, or $1.06 a share, from $352.76 million, or $1.23 a share, in the year-ago period. Quarterly sales fell 6% to $1.42 billion, and North American stores saw “substantially lower traffic,” said Chief Executive Victor Luis.

International Business Machines Corp.
IBM, +0.11%
shares dropped 3.2% after the company reported fourth-quarter revenue that fell short of estimates and disappointed with its earnings outlook.

Barclays Analyst Ben Reitzes noted on IBM’s conference call that IBM’s first-quarter guidance equated to $2.50, which was less than the consensus of $3.27. IBM Chief Financial Officer Martin Schroeter verified that number, adding that “on a year-to-year base we feel like we have a pretty good game plan for 2014.” The company reported its fourth-quarter revenue fell to $27.7 billion from $29.3 billion, short of forecasts, with weakness stemming from its computer-hardware business.

Allegheny Technologies Inc.
ATI, -1.03%
shares extended losses for a second day, losing 6.4%. The stock’s rating was revised to underweight from “not rated” with a price target of $21 at J.P. Morgan on Tuesday.

Motorola Solutions Inc.
MSI, -0.21%
declined 3.7%. The telecommunications network-gear company on Wednesday said its fourth-quarter profit rose to $1.31 a share from $1.18 a share a year earlier. However, it forecast first-quarter revenue to fall by 4% to 5% and adjusted earnings of between 46 cents a share to 52 cents a share.

Shares of Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
AMD, -3.04%
plunged 12%. The chip maker said Tuesday it swung to a profit of $89 million, or 12 cents a share, from a year-ago loss of $473 million, or 63 cents a share. Quarterly revenue rose to $1.59 billion from $1.16 billion. But shares came under pressure as the company said it expects revenue to fall by 13% to 19% in the current quarter.

Tickers to Watch

EXPE: Expedia Inc.
EXPE, +1.58%
shares were off 0.6%. The online travel agency had reportedly lost a quarter of its search visibility on Google. The loss in search visibility was the result of a penalty imposed by Google and was tied to paying for links on other sites to boost Google search results, according to SearchEngineLand.

FB: Facebook Inc.
FB, -1.44%
shares jumped to a closing record of $58.51 on Tuesday, propelling Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg into the billionaire club, according to Bloomberg News. Shares were down 1.6% to $57.57 in recent trade.

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